The article examines the specifics of three currently well-known dramatic works by L.V. Garelina. In the second half of the 19th century, the writer turned to the genre of scenes, as well as the urgent problem of female emancipation, but offered her own solution to this issue. The plays are sketches from the life of the peasant and noble classes, with the essayism inherent in the genre and an attitude towards authenticity. The action of the works takes place in a patriarchal Russian province. The main characters are women of different ages, character traits, social status, and place of residence, representing, however, quite certain types: a village girl from a well-to-do peasant family in the first play; a princess, a resident of a provincial town in the second; a local noblewoman and her stepdaughter in the third. At the same time, in their depiction, the author focuses not on their social status, but on the feelings that a woman experiences at different stages of her life. We can talk about a kind of dramatic trilogy: Garelina consistently draws three ages or three states of a woman: a marriageable girl, a young wife and a widow. At the center of all three plays is love and the problems of a woman associated with it. Whatever socially or politically significant problems do not attract the attention of the writer, but she emphasizes a very important and bold problem of women's life for that time — the right of a woman to love and be free in her choice. The writer draws a new type of active, striving for love and capable of fighting for their
happiness women, which is uncharacteristic for the Russian province.
For citation: Kopytova Е.A. The specifics of L.V. Garelina's plays: genre, subject matter, the principle of portraying characters, Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2024, iss. 1, pp. 40—49.